T3 Profile® Report

Six Dimensions of System 3 Thinking

Comparing your T3 profile® scores

How to enhance System 3 thinking

Decision Making

How well do you make decisions? Well, that depends on what kind of decision of course. It’s easier to decide which washing powder to buy in the supermarket than to decide a life partner. You could still get the washing powder decision wrong, but the consequences aren’t that disastrous.

Your brain has evolved to solve problems that are mostly social in nature, but it’s not so good at logic. That’s because our early hominid ancestors survived by banding together and hunting together. So, you tend to be quite good at sensing social situations and solving those problems.

But how do you decide when you’re facing a life-changing choice? When you’re at a crossroad? When there’s no one to turn to for advice? When you can’t predict what the outcome of your decision will be? When you have to choose the least worst option?

System 3 Thinking

You use two systems of thinking in making a decision:

System 1 thinking is an intuitive-experiential style which is automatic, effortless, fast, based on immediate ‘gut feeling’, and essentially preconscious.
System 2 thinking is an analytical-rational style which is intentional, effortful, logical, reason-oriented, slower and more deliberate, and experienced actively and consciously.

Neither system of thinking is better than the other. It seems you can readily move between system 1 and system 2 thinking depending on the context and various cues in the environment. Sometimes you engage both systems within the same problem.

But when it comes to making critical decisions that will impact your life and the lives of others system 1 and system 2 thinking are necessary, but not sufficient to navigate your doubts, dilemmas, or disruptions. You need a third system of thinking.

System 3 thinking is a way of “balancing” system 1 and system 2 thinking. It’s more considerate, thoughtful, and consequential, taking into account all the likely outcomes in both the short and long-term. In essence, it is the practice of good judgement.

Making Wise Decisions

You might be of the view that wisdom is essentially a spiritual quality and best left to religion and theologies. And yet the quality of your most important decisions can be judged as being more or less wise by others. Other people can always point to your decisions and tell you whether it was foolish or wise.

Research in the psychology of wisdom over the last three decades shows that what constitutes making a wise decision seems to be more than intelligence alone, and more than personality alone. There’s some overlap, but the overlap is quite small. Other findings show that:

Wise thinking is a skill, and that skill can be enhanced. You can get better at it.
Wise thinking appears to dip in middle age and then goes up.
Age is necessary but not a solely sufficient condition for wise decision-making. You can have quite young people exhibiting quite wise behaviour and you can have very foolish baby boomers.
Women, however, are somewhat better at wise thinking than men, which should come as no surprise.

When it comes to making a wise decision with your heart (system 1 thinking) or your head (system 2 thinking), it turns out neither system is definitive. You need a third system of thinking.

Six Dimensions of System 3 Thinking

My research has revealed 6 dimensions of system 3 thinking which can be practised to improve decision-making when facing a life-changing decision:

Focus – pay attention to what really matters.

Life experience – discern what makes common sense.

Decisiveness – try small actions to find out what works best.

Compassion – demonstrate care for humanity through consistent action.

Emotional regulation – use your emotions without feeling overwhelmed.

Tolerance for divergent values – acknowledge different value systems.

System 3 thinking is more global and holistic, taking into account things that go beyond the pure logic and rationality of the situation, and your own fluttering of emotion.

Comparing your T3 profile® scores

How to enhance System 3 thinking

 
 Dimension
 Practice
 
 Focus
 
   Develop the skills of focused attention to bring about a calmer, more open and undistracted mind, and greater self-awareness.
Hit the pause button and pay attention to what is really happening. Get your ego out of the way and see the situation as if you’re a fly on the wall.

 Life Experience
 
   Reflect on the lessons of success and failure from your own life. What did you learn in those moments? And how could you apply your learnings now?
Reflect on the biographies of others and what it means to live a meaningful life. It’s better to learn from the failures and successes of others before you make your own mistakes.

 Decisiveness
 
   Increase the frequency of your day-to-day decision-making. Get practised and comfortable making small decisions.

Make many smaller decisions to build to a big decision, recognising that the risk of failure may be lower than the risk of not making the decision. Fail fast, frequently and frugally.

 Compassion

   Practise random acts of kindness – giving without expecting recognition or reward. Kindness is compassion on training wheels.

Compassion is a broader, more global version of kindness. Pay attention to injustice, ignorance, cruelty, and selfishness in the world. And what you can do about it.

 Emotional Regulation
 
   Identify and name what you’re feeling as emotions arise. You can be overly optimistic or overly pessimistic. Those emotions have the potential to lead you astray.
Don’t take things personally: acknowledge others’ emotional responses without taking responsibility for them. When you see yourself as the agent of your own life, you are at the centre of your feelings and your destiny.

 Tolerance for Divergent Values
 
   Practise curiosity about other cultures, beliefs, and values. You’re not giving up your own values by acknowledging that others may hold different values to yours. You’re using their values in an informing way.
Notice what triggers a judgmental response in you and seek to be more flexible. It’s easy to make a mistake and assume your own value system holds sway when there is another culture, set of beliefs, or historical precedent in play.

Dimension	Practice
Focus	Develop the skills of focused attention to bring about a calmer, more open and undistracted mind, and greater self-awareness. Hit the pause button and pay attention to what is really happening. Get your ego out of the way and see the situation as if you’re a fly on the wall.
Life Experience	Reflect on the lessons of success and failure from your own life. What did you learn in those moments? And how could you apply your learnings now? Reflect on the biographies of others and what it means to live a meaningful life. It’s better to learn from the failures and successes of others before you make your own mistakes.
Decisiveness	Increase the frequency of your day-to-day decision-making. Get practised and comfortable making small decisions. Make many smaller decisions to build to a big decision, recognising that the risk of failure may be lower than the risk of not making the decision. Fail fast, frequently and frugally.
Compassion	Practise random acts of kindness – giving without expecting recognition or reward. Kindness is compassion on training wheels. Compassion is a broader, more global version of kindness. Pay attention to injustice, ignorance, cruelty, and selfishness in the world. And what you can do about it.
Emotional Regulation	Identify and name what you’re feeling as emotions arise. You can be overly optimistic or overly pessimistic. Those emotions have the potential to lead you astray. Don’t take things personally: acknowledge others’ emotional responses without taking responsibility for them. When you see yourself as the agent of your own life, you are at the centre of your feelings and your destiny.
Tolerance for Divergent Values	Practise curiosity about other cultures, beliefs, and values. You’re not giving up your own values by acknowledging that others may hold different values to yours. You’re using their values in an informing way. Notice what triggers a judgmental response in you and seek to be more flexible. It’s easy to make a mistake and assume your own value system holds sway when there is another culture, set of beliefs, or historical precedent in play.

References

Webb, P.J. (2021). “System 3 Thinking: How to Choose Wisely when Facing Doubt, Dilemma, or Disruption”. Surrey Hills, VIC: Publish Central. BUY THE BO OK
Webb, P.J. (2020). Coaching for Wisdom: System 3 Thinking in Complex Decision Making, Philosophy of Coaching: An International Journal Vol. 5, No. 1, 113-128. DOWNLOAD
Webb, P.J. (2018). Coaching for Wisdom. In: K. Brush, and I. Sobolewska (Eds.) 8th EMCC International Mentoring, Coaching, and Supervision Research Conference (pp. 220-231), European Coaching and Mentoring Council, Brussels, Belgium. DOWNLOAD
Webb, P.J. & Lee-Bates, B. (2015). Effects of mindfulness training on workplace performance. Proceedings of the 11th Industrial and Organisational Psychology Conference, Australian Psychological Society, Melbourne, Australia. DOWNLOAD
Webb, P.J. (2008). Coaching for wisdom: Enabling wise decisions. In: D.B. Drake, K. Gørtz, and D. Brennan (Eds.) The Philosophy and Practice of Coaching. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. DOWNLOAD